Tulare County Biographies
CLEO V. KIGER
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
In an enumeration of the successful and progressive business men of
Tulare county, the name of Cleo V. Kiger must be included, for his
accomplishments here in the comparatively short space of five years have
indicated him to be a man of keen discernment, sound judgment and indefatigable
industry. He is a native of Des Moines county, Iowa, born on the 17th day of
December, 1888. His parents are Lewis and Julia (Matheny) Kiger, the former a
native of West Virginia and the latter of southern Ohio.
Cleo V. Kiger secured a good public school education and after
graduating from high school, entered the Elliott Business College, at
Burlington, Iowa, from which he was graduated. Thereafter for several years he
was employed at office clerical work and accounting, and for three years was
with the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company in Buffalo, New York. In 1913 Mr. Kiger
came to California and in 1916 bought a small ranch near Bellflower, where he
engaged in the raising of chickens. During the World war he turned the care of
the ranch and the chickens over to his wife and went to work in the shipyards at
San Pedro. In 1920 Mr. Kiger came to Tulare county and bought ten acres of land
southeast of Terra Bella and again engaged in the poultry business. He has been
very successful and has made improvements on the ranch in the way of buildings
and other equipment aggregating between twelve thousand and fifteen thousand
dollars.
Mr. Kiger specializes in the raising of white Leghorns, though as
secondary breeds he raises Rhode Island reds, barred Plymouth Rocks and Anconas.
Starting this ranch with two hundred chickens, he now has between two thousand
and three thousand hens and one hundred male birds, and from them he hatches ten
thousand chicks every three weeks during the season, which are sold as baby
chicks. He also raises about ten thousand more. The chicken unit consists of
nineteen pens and two brooder houses. Besides the pullets which are sold, there
is an immense sale of eggs and baby chicks, for which there is a large and
constantly increasing demand. Mr. Kiger shows his sound judgment in raising his
own green feed for the baby chicks, consisting mainly of lettuce, chard and
kale. An interesting feature of his plan is that he aims at a minimum production
of two hundred eggs for each bird. Many are exceeding this number and one white
Leghorn turned in a score of three hundred and ten eggs in 1924. The reputation
of the Kiger poultry farm has extended far beyond local boundaries and inquiries
have come from as far away as Old Mexico. All the work on the ranch is done by
Mr. and Mrs. Kiger and their son and they have derived great pleasure as well as
profit from their enterprise. Besides the poultry equipment on the ranch, Mr.
Kiger has planted shade, fig, peach, apricot and plum trees and a nice orchard.
He is very comfortably situated and is now realizing gratifying returns from the
labor and money he has put into the ranch.
Mr. Kiger was married on July 22, 1907, to Miss Ruth McBride, who was
born in Wellington, Kansas, and reared in Burlington, Iowa, the daughter of
James and Bertha (Sikes) McBride. Mr. and Mrs. Kiger have a son, Jack. Mr. Kiger
takes a keen interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of the community
and is an active member of the Tulare County Farm Bureau and the Tulare County
Poultry Association. Because of his business ability and fine personal qualities
he is deservedly popular in the community where he lives.
Source: History of Tulare County and Kings County, California � Kathleen
Edwards Small & J. Larry Smith, Vol. II, Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing
Company, 1926., p. 494